Outlook: The Spartans could be the X factor in 2-4A this season, something that could be doubly true if they can knock off the Hilltoppers tonight. The Spartans boast a senior-heavy roster and decent size in the paint. They won’t be afraid to bang with any team near the basket.

The favorite time of the year for basketball fans has arrived.
District play in Class 4A commences this week and for the Los Alamos teams, they both are slated with two big 2-4A contests, the first one starting tonight.
Los Alamos’ girls will take on the Bernalillo Spartans at 7 p.m. The Spartans, much like the Hilltoppers, have been up-and-down during the nondistrict season, but could match up well against the Hilltoppers, plus the Spartans have some seasoned veteran returners like Katie Darnell and Cedar-Rain Yellowmule.
The Hilltoppers (9-9) will go into the game off a win against the Manzano Monarchs at home Saturday. The Hilltoppers trailed by three early in the fourth quarter but bounced back to win that contest going away, 54-47.

The 2012 legislature may be very different than the 2011 version now that Gov. Susana Martinez has a year of chief executive experience under her belt.
Martinez appears to have learned that the adversarial approach necessarily taken by district attorneys doesn’t work when dealing with another branch of government.
She says a number one priority this year will be to cooperatively work with the legislature.
The 2011 legislature had embarrassingly little to show for its efforts.
The special session on redistricting was even worse. A surprising improvement in relations was evident when Martinez and a handful of Democratic legislators presented a bipartisan congressional redistricting proposal to the court last fall.

The energy industry can take heart from the last item of the last meeting of a legislative interim committee.
Sen. Bernadette Sanchez, chair of the Economic and Rural Development Committee, proposes making the energy industry a central component of the state’s economic development strategy.
This would be quite a change in attitude. Instead of being the rich uncle who’s always on tap, energy would become an asset to be encouraged and protected, like high tech, manufacturing and tourism.
The proposal comes at a time when energy people (and entire regions of the state) are feeling picked on and under-appreciated.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Gov. Susana Martinez says her administration is trying to do a better job of reaching out to Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature this year.

The Democratic-controlled Legislature returns to work at noon Tuesday for a 30-day session.

A top assignment for lawmakers is approving a budget to finance state government. The Republican governor will outline her legislative priorities in a state of the state speech to a joint session of the House and Senate shortly after the session convenes.

The governor wants lawmakers to scrap a law that allows driver's licenses for illegal immigrants.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Researchers at New Mexico State University and ranchers from Jemez Pueblo have been awarded a grazing contract that will allow them access to the Valles Caldera National Preserve next summer.

One environmental group has concerns about returning cattle to the 89,000-acre preserve after more than a third of it was charred last summer by the massive Las Conchas fire. However, preserve officials said the grazing partnership meets congressional mandates for how the property should be managed.

Indian doctors have reported the country's first cases of "totally drug-resistant tuberculosis," a long-feared and virtually untreatable form of the killer lung disease.

It's not the first time highly resistant cases like this have been seen. Since 2003, patients have been documented in Italy and Iran. It has mostly been limited to impoverished areas, and has not spread widely. But experts believe there could be many undocumented cases.